Origin

The word dossier is from a French word for a bundle of papers with a label on the back, from dos ‘back’, based on Latin dorsum. Endorse (Late Middle English) goes back to the same idea and root. A document on Iraq and the evidence for weapons of mass destruction was distributed to journalists by the British government in 2003. When it was found to contain multiple inaccuracies the press rapidly named it the dodgy dossier.